This Is Not Happening
by xThornyRosex
Summary: Rose is a vampire hunter. She believes all vampires to be evil creatures and feels it her obligation to society to kill them. But then she meets a handsome vampire that makes her re-think her outlook on life  Sounds like RashelxQuinn but promise it change
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I got this idea whilst sat on a bus. I was narrating the story to myself and decided to do a fanfiction :D So let me know what you think because it's my first one xx  
**

_God I hate public transport._

I was sat on a bus, heading back after a nights work that was cut short, and I couldn't help but feel amazement at why people would choose to travel this way. Surely nobody wanted to sit on these stinking seats unless absolutely necessary?

I stared at my reflection in the window next to me. I wasn't pretty, but I wasn't exceptionally ugly either. Dark hair that was greasy, shoved up in a messy knot on my head, my fringe falling into my eyes. Pale skin flushed slightly from the cold I had just left. People always used to say I looked half dead. Ironic, in my line of work. My lips were nothing special, a rosy colour that looked really nice with lip gloss on. I was wearing no makeup tonight though.

My eyes are what I recognised the most. In my opinion my eyes were _me_. No matter how scruffy I looked, bruised from a latest fight, or how much makeup I wore, my eyes always stayed the same. A dark green colour that turned to grey when I was mad or upset. Neither were emotions I felt often but still. So long as I could see my eyes it didn't matter how the rest of me looked-I knew I was me. I know this stuff sounds kind of depressing but it's what my mind focused on, on this hour long bus journey.

It was a good thing I didn't care about how I looked as well because at this moment in time I looked like a tramp. Cheap clothes a size too big hung from me in the form of a white t-shirt with some sort of logo on it, a pair of indigo jeans that I needed a belt to keep up, and a black jacket left open. They weren't the clothes I had gone out in but unavoidable circumstances had caused me to change. Yeah "unavoidable circumstances" – a good way to think of my job. My other clothes-ones that fit I might add-were lying in a bag at my feet. Unfortunately they were covered in blood, and that may have drawn some attention on the bus. The white top I was wearing had a little blood on the collar that had dripped from my head wound, but it wasn't very noticeable and I had to make do. For a 14-year-old girl, my wardrobe wasn't very extensive. In fact it contained mostly black.

Another perk of the job.

Ok so your probably wondering what kind of "job" a 14 year old could have, and before you start thinking the worst-no, I'm not a drug dealer or a prostitute. I _wish_ my life were that simple.

No. I'm a Vampire Hunter. I have been for nearly a year, and it was this that meant I didn't care about boys and fashion and all the usual teenage crap. I was too busy trying to avoid getting killed.

Of course it wasn't just me vampires were after. They could kill anyone at any time. I just happened to be more in the firing line because I spent my time tracking them and killing them.

Vampires aren't what you're probably thinking of. I imagine your idea of them would be a cross between something from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer _or _Twilight ._

Well not so. Vampires are smart. They live in a secret society called the Night World. It's not a place. It's all around us and anyone you know could be a part of it. They have a council and everything. The Night People manage to live in relative harmony around us. Pfft. Obviously they don't live in _harmony_ with us. They kill people. The only idiots that think Night People and humans can get along are Damned Daybreakers. Those idiots will be dead before they know it. There are no half measures when it comes to Night People. They are VERY strict when it comes to humans knowing about their existence. It's not just vampires either. The Night World is made up of Witches, Werewolves and Shapeshifters too. You would think that they would just take over and enslave the entire human race, but luckily there are not enough of them. Humans still outnumber the Night People and I like to add to our odds by knocking off as many of their kind as I can. They are smart though, and hard to track. Of course there are the usual idiots that go around killing everyone they can find off the street, and they are usually easy to find and kill, but most vamps and other Night People are smart. They even have rules. Punishable by death rules. It is ok to mess with humans. It is ok to drink their blood and toy with their hearts and even kill them. The only things they can't do with them is

Fall in love with them

Tell them about the Night World

Of course it is very rare that anyone breaks those rules. For the most part Night People are vicious, savage beings but on occasion, there are some milder ones. They still think of human as vermin, food, but wish to tell them about the Night World anyway, because they are fond of them.

I'm not stupid. I know that there are probably good Night People out there, or at least not completely evil Night People (most likely witches, as they seem the most humane), but I'm not naïve enough to believe that I'm going to come across one either. I call myself a vampire hunter because they are the worst of all Night People. The most savage. They could be anyone you know. In fact they could be feeding off you and wiping your memory of the entire thing. I hate them.

Vampires don't burn up in the sun but it does affect their abilities, their POWER.

The power to control your mind being one of them. This is why they prefer the dark, and consequently why I run on a nocturnal schedule too. That's why I was sitting on a bus at around ten at night. I had been hunting in a city near where I live but my bike was in for repairs and so I had to use the Public Transport System. The very UNRELIABLE Public Transport System. The bus had been half an hour late. Luckily I was a patient person. I had to be. My hunting had been cut short tonight, and I was looking forward to a nice hot shower, and early bed.

I pulled my gaze away from the window. The bus had just stopped and a whole line of people were queuing to get on. I quickly scanned them. No Night People. I sat a little more comfortably in my chair. I was sat in my favourite seat, the only place I would sit when on a bus. It wasn't at the very back, I didn't like sitting with other people. It was the two seats that are slightly raised above the others in front of them. I didn't like people sitting behind me but if I looked straight forward I could see their reflections in the shiny black of the screen at the front of the bus.

I stiffened slightly as a couple came down the aisle and sat behind me. Of all the places…

I knew they weren't Night People but the hairs on my neck still stood on end at the thought of people I couldn't see properly. I examined their reflections. Young, about 20, probably been out for a drink together, they were bent over the guys phone texting and giggling. Somebody should probably tell them Valentines Day was TOMMOROW. Wait, was it? I hadn't even thought about Valentines Day. I hadn't had a boyfriend in over a year. _No_. I didn't want to think about my past. I would concentrate only on my life as it is, one day at a time. There was no _before _being a Vampire Hunter.

A good distraction was the boy now getting on the bus. Or should I say the _vampire_ getting on the bus. He hadn't been in the line when I first looked and must have arrived whilst I was lost in thought. I cursed myself for the lapse in concentration. I also cursed the fact that now I was going to have to get off, who knew how many stops early, to go kill him. Then I would have to wait for _another_ bus. Lovely. I sighed. I couldn't wait to get my bike back.

I observed the vampire now sitting in the front seats, right behind the area for disabled people. I could only see him from the back, and his side reflection in the window, but I could tell he was good looking. Most vampires are. It was how they lured you in. This one looked about 17, although that was no indication to his real age. You see there are too kinds of vampires. Lamia, born vampires that can grow old and have children but can also stop ageing at any time, and made vampires, that are humans who were bitten and changed. These were always young, as a human's body cannot handle the change if they are over the age of 19. Some that are younger don't make it either. But because of this, the vamp at the front of the bus could have been centuries old and I wouldn't have known. It didn't matter. I was still going to kill him. I continued my examination.

He had longish black hair that was messy and looked as if it stayed that way. He must have styled it to look like that and to be fair it did look good. He was wearing black skinny jeans, a hoodie that looked really warm when the bus doors were still open, and a pair of red converse trainers. I looked down at my own feet and saw a matching pair, only mine in black. Huh, the vamp had good taste.

I took another look at the reflection of the couple behind me. They were locked in an embrace and I really didn't want to see so I stared out of the window again, keeping my eye on the vampire in front with my peripheral vision. He seemed lost in thought anyway, and probably hadn't noticed me. If he had he probably would have thought I was just checking him out. In my baggy, dirty clothes I didn't look like a hunter and certainly didn't appear a threat. Not even to a human. Boy would that be a mistake to think. I was good. Very good. Not one to blow my own trumpet but if I wasn't good, I would be dead by now. I had had next to no help getting started in this career and had killed my first vamp at 13.

I was never a normal kid. I had serious trust issues and was afraid of change. Normally I would be the last person to admit to being afraid of anything, but change definitely scared me. I had moved around a lot from a young age, and just wanted to settle down. I wasn't a rebel or anything but I got into a bit of trouble at school for being truant. It wasn't that I couldn't do the work-I was actually quite intelligent. I just didn't want to grow too attached to anything that I knew I would soon have to leave. I did that once when I was 10, made friends at my new school, and when I left them it was ten times harder than usual. When I got to secondary school I used to skive my lessons. I hung out wherever was convenient in the area. My favourite was an old graveyard I used to go to in my town. It was a quiet place and during the summer it was beautiful. I would sit under a tree and read, or look around at the graves and try to picture the people that were lying six feet under, wondering what they were like when they were alive. If a grave didn't have any flowers on it I would go to the meadow nearby to pick some and lay them in the pots at the foot of a grave. It was only a jump over a fence away and there were horses in a nearby field that I would sometimes talk to. All in all it was a fairly peaceful time. The only vampires I knew where the ones on TV, or in books. Werewolves were myth, and witches had warts on the ends of their noses. I was innocent.

My family weren't anything special. I had a bad relationship with my mother. It was very love-hate. Most of the time hate. Although I wasn't blamed for very much, being the youngest, she still always found something wrong with me. I was never good enough, just a burden for her. Other times she was sweetness and light, but I knew it wouldn't be long before she became the over-controlling bitch I knew she was. Others just said she was protective. I knew better.

I didn't have the best relationship with my dad either. He and my mother got divorced when I was young and I remember crying over it one night. He moved out and I saw him some weekends but we never had a close bond. Although the fighting between my parents no longer kept us up at night, my mother only got moodier after that. I avoided her as much as possible.

Then there was my brother. Julian. When I was little he used to beat me up. He thought it was smart, showing me who was boss. He was bigger and stronger than me and liked to show it. I would thank him now though, he gave me thick skin that doesn't bruise easily and can take pain. But I still followed him around a lot when I was young. He was like the ringleader in a gang of the two of us. People used to say we were partners in crime and we always enjoyed getting into mischief. As we got older he became less fond of messing around though and, whilst I was still at the age of playing games in the street, he preferred hanging out with his mates and playing on the ps2. Sometimes I saw the old Julian in his eyes but for the most part he was older, and therefore we didn't play together anymore.

And so I had to find something else to occupy myself-reading. I became quite the reader. As we both grew older, my brother mellowed a bit and stopped beating me up whenever he felt like it. This wasn't because I could hit back yet, it was simply because he was growing up. Unfortunately this wasn't until he was 16 and so I saw little of it before I left.

Lastly there was my sister, Charlotte. She was really the only constant in my life. As a child she was a mother to me, but when she got older we grew apart and ending up arguing often. It wasn't that I could rely on Charlotte as such, but she was the one thing that I could be sure of in life. She was always there. The rock on which I could be sure something would stay the same in my whirlwind life. That is, until one day last year.

I was 13 years old, nearly 14. I had been at school that day, a school I had only been at for a few weeks. It was going ok but we were in winter and so I was hurrying back to the new house. My breath steamed in front of me as I ran down the street that was slowly becoming familiar to me. A couple more weeks of living here and I would be used to it. I reached number 20 and opened the door. _Yes. _It was unlocked. I threw my bag down by the stairs and was about the climb them to my room when I remembered my mother. She would get pissed if I didn't talk to her for a little while first. It always left me in a mood when I spoke to her though and I was eager to get upstairs and facebook the friends I had left behind when I was 10. They were the only ones I had stayed in contact with throughout the years and we were fairly close.

"Rose?" my mothers voice called to me from the living room.

Should I run upstairs and risk her getting pissed off at me and grounding me (not that I really cared about getting grounded) or should I just pacify her and have a conversation first? I hesitated only a moment before heading down the hall, towards the partially opened door.

"Yes mother? I'm back."

I expected the usual "how was your day?" thing were I would reply "alright" and she would get moody at me for my lack of information, and it would normally end in a fight. She didn't say anything however and I was curious. Then I looked at her properly and saw her red-rimmed eyes, tears spilling down her pale cheeks. I got most of my looks from her and resented her for it because it meant I could never deny being related to somebody I hated. But today those eyes didn't look at me with contempt. No, they looked at me in despair.

That's when I noticed that we weren't alone in the room either. Two people sat on the settee across from my mother, a man and a woman. They had serious looks on their faces. And although they weren't in uniform I didn't need to ask-I knew they were the police.

"Mum what's wrong?" I asked, using _mum_ because we were in company-she didn't like me calling her mother.

The officers looked at me with pity in their eyes.

"What is it?" I couldn't stand to see them looking at me like that. I knew something was wrong and alarm bells were ringing in my head. I looked back at my mother "Tell me!"

"I..i…it's your si-ister" she choked out.

I froze. What had happened to Charlotte? She had been at her friend's house last night, after going to a club. She was 17 but they never asked for ID. I knew because I had sneaked in once as well, when I had been particularly pissed off with my family.

My mother was sobbing hysterically now and I knew she couldn't say any more. I put my arm around her awkwardly (I wasn't into touchy-feely stuff - _especially_ with her) and looked at the officers.

"What is it? What's happened to Charlotte?" I asked in an incredibly calm voice for how I was feeling.

The female took one look at mother and, obviously coming to the same conclusion that I did-that she was unable to complete her story, moved her gaze onto me.

The next words I heard numbed me and changed my life forever.

"I'm really sorry Rose. But I'm afraid your sisters body has been found dead"

I couldn't think. The only thing running through my mind was that Charlotte, the one sure thing in my life, the only thing I could count on to stay the same when everything around me was changing, was gone. Had left me.

A thousand thought were whirling around in my head. How had this happened? When? _Where?_ But the only thing that came out of my mouth were the words:

"Well obviously her body was found dead, it wouldn't be her body if she were alive would it? It would be her."

This brass statement obviously shocked the officers. They clearly had been expecting tears from me like my mother had shed, or denial. But I couldn't feel those things, much less express them. I was in shock and my body felt as though it was on autopilot. I could not cry, even if I had wanted to.

Thankfully the male police officer seemed to recover first and answered the questions that I couldn't bring myself to ask.

"She was found earlier today by a club worker, in an alleyway near Spiders nightclub. She was identified by the provisional drivers licence in her purse. I truly am sorry for your loss."

I nodded numbly. I knew without a doubt that it was her. Even without looking at the pictures I was sure was in the file in the police's hand. Even without asking what she was wearing. I just knew. And I think that a part of me died right then. I felt as though there was nothing worse. I couldn't feel anything worse than this numbness. I would embrace the pain if I could only feel it. I didn't know then that worse was to come.

"Ca-can I see her body?" I managed.

"N-n-no!" my mother choked out. She grabbed me, and held me there as if to keep me from leaving her. "You don't w-want to s-s-see it"

"I do," I declared firmly. It was the one thing I was sure of. I had to see Charlotte.

I didn't know why, I just had to.

A short while later and we were at the hospital. The police had declared that somebody had to identify the body for certain and I insisted that I do it. My mother had finally agreed although she said it would be her. Both the police and I knew it though-she wouldn't make it through the door. It was up to me.

"This will be very distressing, I understand, but try to remember-she is sleeping now"

I barley heard the words the morgue attendant spoke as I pushed blindly through the doors to the waiting bodies. To my _sisters_ waiting body.

I was still in a state of numb shock but I walked right over to the figure lying on the metal table, and, without waiting for the morgue assistant to do it for me, I pulled the white sheet from over my sister's head.

It was her.

I didn't even gasp. Her beautiful features stared up at me. She really did seem to be sleeping. Her dark hair cascaded around her still frame, fanning out above her head. It was a few shades lighter than mine, due to her constantly dying it. Her pale face was now even paler; her lips had a bluish tinge to them.

Her eyes were closed but I knew that behind the lids was a perfect chocolate brown colour that had looked at me so often in the past, either in stern disapproval as she told me off, or in sympathy as she soothed me after a fight with my mother, somehow having found a chocolate biscuit to make me feel better. The necklace I had given her for her 17th birthday lay still around her neck. It was a silver claddagh, two hands clasping a heart. I stared at it.

Then something else caught my eye. Two tiny puncture holes in her neck. What the….?

A bite mark.

I woke up then. I suddenly saw things in perfect clarity. This was my sister lying in a morgue, with _bite marks _on her neck! This couldn't be real. But I knew it was. It was like a small part of me knew all along. The attendant had by now noticed my breathing speeding up and followed my gaze.

"We don't yet know what caused that," he said "but we will know more once a post-mortem has been conducted"

"I do." I breathed.

He looked at me.

"I know what caused the marks" I could barely comprehend what I was saying. One word just kept flashing across my mind. VAMPIRE.

"Really?" he asked, trying to be sympathetic but also, I could tell, desperate for information. I looked at him then. Really looked at him. He was young and probably had his whole life ahead of him, a promising career in medicine. Charlotte didn't have that. She wasn't going to be a lawyer like she dreamed. Because of a vampire.

"I have to get out of here," I said to the attendant. A look of understanding washed over his face.

"Of course. This must be very distressing for you." He said.

_You have no idea._

I ran through the doors of the morgue, past the police waiting for me, past my sobbing mother, past all the people giving me funny looks. I ran and didn't stop running until I was out in the open air.

I knew what I had to do. I had known from the moment I saw the bite marks on my sister's body. The police may think it was the stab wound that killed her but I knew better. I didn't need a degree in medicine to know that a vampire had drained my sister of blood and stabbed what was left of her to cover its tracks. No wonder there hadn't been much bleeding from her wound in the pictures I had seen, when they fell out of the file in the police car. It made me sick.

I set off at a run towards my house. I had lived here for a few short weeks but already I knew that I was leaving it behind for good.

As I stepped onto the bus to leave Dalton, I knew that I would never see the mother I had never liked again. I would never see the brother that lived with the father I would also never again see. But the image of my sister lying there with the blood completely drained from her body, would remain imprinted in my mind forever. With a tear in my eye, and no idea who it was for-my sister, my family or my innocence- I whispered "goodbye" and left behind that life forever.

I was still in my school uniform.

I dragged my mind from the past. It had started to rain. I hadn't meant to go there. I didn't want to think about what had happened so long ago. It had been almost a year and I would be 15 soon. I hadn't been to a single school since then and I was willing to bet my education was irreversibly fucked up. It didn't matter though. Its not like I had any other career to consider.

I had killed my first vampire a week after my sister's death. I had gone to a bar that I knew I could get into because many of the kids at my old school had bragged about being allowed in. If they could get in I knew I could. I looked older than any of them and, although at the time I knew next to no martial arts, I had a purpose that I had no doubt would give me the strength to knock out any bouncer that tried to stop me. I had to avenge my sister's death. I was lucky. Under any other circumstances I wouldn't have survived the night but I had caught the vamp feeding on another human and had managed to catch it off guard. I had tapped its shoulder and when he turned around, driven the stake straight through his cold heart. It had been a makeshift stake, and I had left in the back of the vamp as a symbol. I knew it was the one who had killed Charlotte because, although at the time I had just tried to kill any vampire that was hurting somebody the way my sister was hurt, it had looked at me as it fell down and said with wide eyes "You? But I killed you….? Last week….."

"Yes" I said, because in a way he had-he had killed the last solid thing in my life, the last thing I had.

"Isn't karma a bitch?" and with that I had twisted the stake , cutting off whatever he had been about to say. The look in his eyes as the life left them will remain with me forever, much as my sisters image will. That night I knew I had found my purpose.

The last of my innocence had died that night; whatever had been left from the death of my sister and the discovery that life, as I knew it was not real.

Later that night a hunter found me, she taught me to fight, gave me a shelter and told me all about the Night World. I stayed with her for 3months.

Then she died too.

From then on I was alone and I'd remained that way ever since.

I stole what I needed and killed as many blood sucking parasites as I could. Like that one at the front of the bus.

My memories renewed my vigour for fighting vampires and when the one in front of me got up and pushed on the bell I was ready. I didn't care where we were-I was going to kill him. I shifted in my seat and when the bus slowed to a stop and the vampire got off, I swiftly slid off my seat, grabbed my bag of clothes from the floor and followed him. I gave the bus driver a small smile and a nod as I passed, in way of thanks, and stepped off the bus.

**So what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Let me know if you have any ideas for improvements :D**

**Tina x**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hi guys. I'm sorry it's taken so long to update. I was planning on doing it every few days but then my internet died, and I had to wait till the weekend to go to my dads and the HIS computer got a virus! Anyway it's a shame because I've had it written for ages.**

**I looked at my traffic and I was surprised but really pleased to see how many people read my story :D I got readers from Japan and Australia! Literally the other side of the world! Big thanks to Icelandgrl and The-Chemical-Kid for the reviews but I really have no idea if anybody else liked it so could some more people pretty please leave their comments? I'm open to criticism :) Anyway. On with the story-**

The cold night air hit me. I looked around. Huh. I was in Heartstone. Looks like I wouldn't need to get another bus then. The vamp had got off in the town I was currently staying in. I always stayed in towns, and hunted in cities. It was the safest way if you asked me, and it had kept me alive so far. The dark-haired vampire I had followed had crossed the street behind the retreating bus, and was turning down another road. Swiftly I followed after him, staying quiet and keeping to the shadows.

He walked quickly, his hood still down, face exposed to the rain. His hair was getting wet but he didn't seem to care. He just kept walking. I followed, the hood of my "borrowed" black jacket pulled up. The rain bit at my face but I didn't care. I had only one purpose, and it was currently turning down a dark alleyway. I didn't even hesitate. Turning into the alley silently, my feet automatically avoiding the puddles without me needing to look down, I watched the vamp from a short distance. My fingers were wrapped around the stake in my jacket pocket and I was just about to confront him when he stopped. At first I thought that he had heard me, and my heart stopped. If I had lost the element of surprise….

Well it was going to be a lot harder to kill him, harder but far from impossible.

But then, just as suddenly as he had stopped, he started walking again. I didn't relax. _He still could have heard me_ I thought. _He could be leading me into a trap._ But then I saw his hands go into his pockets, as he put something glowing a faint blue in them. I followed a wire that I hadn't noticed before, with my eyes and saw that it lead to earphones. He was listening to his _i-pod?_ What the hell? Since when had vampires listened to i-pods? It was such a….normal thing to do. Something I would do even. It unnerved me a bit. I mentally shook myself. NO. You can't think of him as a person. It will only make you weaker in the fight. The inevitable fight. Because our races couldn't live in harmony together. The Daybreakers had it wrong. The thought of vampires and humans trusting each other was ludicrous. The idea of them having a _relationship_ was disgusting. How could you trust a vamp? How would you sleep easy at night knowing that there was one in the house with you? In the same _bed_ as you? It could never work. And the vampire I was pursuing wouldn't think twice about draining me dry. I had to get my head back in the game. I didn't know why I had been feeling like this lately; weary, questioning, doubtful. I knew that I had one purpose in life. That was to kill the predators that stalked our world and save the humans that couldn't defend themselves. It was what I had to do, but lately I had been less and less interested, having to force myself to go out and hunt. It wasn't right.

The vampire in front of me turned suddenly and stopped, giving him a head start so that he wouldn't hear me (even with his i-pod in, vamps have very good hearing, and were advanced in their other senses too). I counted to three slowly and then followed after him. I turned just in time to see him…..

_Walking into Tesco?_

What. The. Fuck?

I could understand the i-pod. Just. But this was a different matter entirely. Since when did _vamps _shop at _Tesco_? Since when did vamps shop per se?

They just stole things, taking whatever they needed and killing if they got caught, or just for fun. This was definitely no the norm.

It occurred to me then that I couldn't follow him as easily in here. I would have to pick up a basket and pretend to do some shopping if I was to blend in here. And, I realised with a sinking feeling, I was going to have to put my hood down. A security guard was already giving me a stern look, motioning for me to take it off. Just as he started to advance towards me I took pulled it down, gave him a small smile and a wave and grabbed a basket. I had money with me. I would follow the vampire and if I needed to buy anything I would get some mints or something.

I spotted my target browsing in the fruit and veg aisle and, beyond weirded out by this point, headed towards the stand of bananas. I picked up a bunch with the fair-trade logo on and started to read about the farmers in Africa that worked for these and got more pay if we bought them. Or at least that's what I pretended to do. In reality I was watching the vampire. He had put a packet of tomatoes in his basket and started towards the bananas. I threw the bunch in my hand into the basket I was carrying and quickly, whilst still trying to act natural, crossed over to look at sticks of celery. He couldn't see my face. If he did, and I didn't kill him tonight, well then, lets just say I would be better off dead than the fate that would await me if the Night World Council got me. They would torture me. Try to get names of others, and when I gave them none they would let every vampire there feed off me. I repressed a shudder. Just as I was about to put the celery in the basket I saw the vamp coming towards me, although thankfully looking at his i-pod, presumably as he turned it off. I all but ran to the next aisle as he stopped at the celery. It was like a twisted game of cat and mouse. But he hadn't seen me had he? Or if he had, he didn't recognise me from the bus? He couldn't know I was following him or he would know what I am. My heart started beating faster.

_Idiot_ I told myself. Don't do that! He will _hear_ it. I was very good at blocking my thoughts from even the strongest telepathic vamps, and could, for the most part, resist mind control. But even I couldn't control the pounding of my heart. If this one, stupid organ gave me away… the one that was supposed to hold love, the heart. I looked up as a hand reached for the milk in front of me.

I nearly screamed. But it was just a woman, juggling a baby, basket and trying to grab a pint at the same time.

"Here" I said, reaching for the milk and putting it in her basket.

"Thank you" she smiled at me and shifted the baby's weight in her arms.

"Your welcome" I laughed as the baby started pointing at me and gurgling. Normally I would have just nodded and walked away but I had a soft spot for babies. They always seemed to make me smile.

I waved to the little one and then turned away, my eyes scanning the supermarket for my quarry. Seeing him in the drinks aisle, his basket already laden with supplies, I chastised myself for getting distracted (I seemed to be doing a lot of that tonight) and headed towards him. To my surprise I saw the baby and her mother also in that aisle and the vamp was looking at them. In fact he was _really_ looking at them. I felt disgust rise up in me. He was thinking of drinking their blood. He was thinking of drinking the blood of a _baby_. I had seen it before but still, here, in this shop, watching the boy assess the mother and her baby, it made me feel sick. I could only see the back of his head but when he started towards them, I was ready. I marched forward and, I swear, against all my training, I was about to grab the vamp and stake him right there. My fingers inched toward my pocket. But instead of grabbing the woman or little girl, the vamps hand passes them and reached for a bottle of orange juice. I almost fainted in relief. It was uncharacteristic of me to feel so involved but tonight was going so strange that I decided to just go with it. But what I saw next still surprised me.

Still holding the bottle of orange in his pale hand, the vampire boy handed it to the woman. He was _helping _her. Only then did I realise that she had been about to grab the bottle as well. He must have heard it in her thoughts and got it for her. How…._ strange_. This vamp seemed to leave all stereo types behind.

The mother smiled and thanked him and he must have smiled back but I heard no reply.

As he moved towards the till to pay, I followed him, curious.

I looked at a stack of dvds by the tills as the vampire started to check out his own items by self-service.

When he was done, I deposited my basket by an empty till and abandoned it, heading towards the exit to the store. As I passed the security guard that I had seen earlier, I smiled and very deliberately put my hood up again.

I followed the vampire into the night.

After walking for a short while longer he stopped, pulled out his earphones and turned around. I dove behind some nearby bins, but not quickly enough. He had seen me.

Ok, so I was going to have to fight him head on. I stepped out from the safety of the bins and looked him squarely in the face. I was shocked at how handsome he was. Like I said earlier, a lot of vamps are good looking, but he really took the prize. His hair fell into his eyes in an almost adorable way, his skin was pale and his features chiselled, as though they were set in stone. Perfectly sculpted marble stone, that is. His lips were pink from the cold, and looked as though they could be sensuous when the wearer wanted them to be. Right now, those lips were pulled up in an almost-smile.

The Tesco bag was still in his hand and he held his body in a way that didn't look ready for a fight, but I knew better. He could spring at me with less than a moments warning.

I gave him my best you-don't-fool-me look and git into my fighting stance. The vampire hunter, Zoë, that had taken me in almost a year ago had taught me an important aspect in fighting. _zanshin_. You needed to have _zanshin_. I breathed in deeply, making myself one with the wet ground. I could almost feel my feet melt into the alley. When I struck, it would come from the earth itself.

He was still smiling at me, and now he laughed. A beautiful sound. It made me feel warm inside and, though I didn't relax my stance, I thought to myself how it made him look even more gorgeous. _No! Pull yourself out of this! _I couldn't be thinking about how cute this guy was. He wasn't even a guy! He was a vampire! The word seemed to bring me to my senses a little. That was, until he spoke.

"Well hello again"

His voice sounded like a thousand angels from heaven singing. He was glorious, stood there in his wet hoodie in the rain. I felt the uncontrollable urge to throw myself into his arms and kiss him. I refrained and instead focused my attention on grabbing my stake from my pocket. This seemed to amuse him.

"You've known the whole time I was following you." It wasn't a question but he answered anyway.

"Yes, although you were actually very good" Smile.

_Not good enough_ I thought, even as my heart melted at his boyish grin.

I altered my stance a little and prepared myself for his attack.

"Well come on then" I said. "Only one of us is going to leave this alley tonight alive, or un-dead in your case, and I don't think there's any need to prolong it" My voice came out sounding strong and proud but inside I was shaking.

His smile fell slightly at my words. He seemed saddened by the thought of killing me. Well I didn't need his pity! I knew that as soon a she smelled my blood properly, the courteous gentleman that had handed a struggling mother a bottle of juice, would quickly disappear, and a heartless monster would replace him. It made my heart ache to think of hurting him but I knew I needed to be thinking of myself here. I couldn't afford to be distracted.

When he struck, I was ready for it. I swiftly dodged, and spun on my feet, stake raised. But he had already moved and I got the feeling that his heart wasn't in the strike at all.

"Come ON!" I yelled.

I lunged for him but he swiftly sidestepped away. We circled each other for a while until I, totally un-coordinated, made a grab for him, and forced him into a real fight. I made to punch him but he ducked and tried to kick me. I leaned back, out of his way and came in with a blow to his head, which he dodged. Damn, he was _good_. He grabbed my wrist, holding the stake, and twisted. I refused to let go, instead pulling on his arm and throwing my weight into a punch to his gut. He grunted in pain but quickly recovered and pulled my feet out from under me. I fell towards the ground, but before my head could make contact with the wet, alley floor, he caught me, and set me up straight.

"Idiot" I growled, "If your going to fight me, do it properly"

"Fine" he said, looking a bit pissed off. "I will"

Before I could see what was happening he had grabbed me and thrown me against the brick wall. I felt pain reverberate throughout my body but I pushed it to the back of my mind. I would definitely feel it later though. He looked impressed as I got up and came towards him. I feinted a punch to his left, which he then tried to block. The idea was that I would then stake his, hopefully unprotected, chest. Only that didn't quite happen because, somehow, when he blocked my feinted punch he grabbed my exposed wrist. My jacket sleeves had ridden up my arms and as our bare skin met, a swirly pink haze seemed to surround us, and I felt dizzy. I collapsed to the floor.

**Reviews? Pretty please? Even just a line or two. I'll love you forever! **

**Btw me and have a difference in opinions here. She believes that Ash Redfern, as gorgeous as he is, is BETTER than the best vampire EVER, John Quinn!**

**Despite her delusions I told her I would put it to the test. There's a poll up on my profile, or if you don't have an account feel free to leave your opinion in a review. When I close the poll I'll let you know who won :D**

**Tina x**


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